Manila, Philippines: Making light of persistent rain, Arianna Lau made a blistering start to the defence of her Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC) Junior Girls' title.

Plotting her way around the Legends Course at The Manila Southwoods Golf & Country Club with precision, the Hong Kong China teenager laid down a marker to her rivals with an opening bogey-free four-under-par 68.

Setting out from the 10th tee, the Northwestern University-bound 16-year-old picked up shots at the two par-threes on the back nine – the 12th and 16th – to turn in two-under 34.

Currently 87th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Lau made further gains at the par-four second and par-five sixth and rarely looked in danger of dropping a shot in a mature display of course management.

Heading into Thursday’s second round in the 54-hole championship, Lau holds a three-stroke lead from Korean Jung Min-seo and Vietnam’s Nguyen Viet Gia Han, the only two other players to better par among the girls.

While Jung mixed three birdies with two bogeys, Gia Han was a model of consistency, with 17 pars and a solitary birdie at the par-four fourth.

Alone in fourth place is Oh Soo-min, who recovered from a double-bogey six at the 15th – her sixth hole of the day – to post an even-par 72.

Star of the Queen Sirikit Cup-winning Korean team in New Zealand in March, Oh is the highest rated player in the field at 13th in the WAGR.

Among the boys, pride of place on day one went to Tom De Herrypon of France, one of four players in the field representing the European Golf Association (EGA).

The 16-year-old, who earned his place here following a strong performance in the European Young Masters, fired a five-under 67.

Given that he dropped a shot at the fourth to go to one-over it was an especially impressive effort from De Herrypon. That was to prove his only blemish on a day when he covered the final 14 holes in six-under.

Two shots back in joint second place are Andreas Kuo Shi-hi of Chinese Taipei and Sri Lankan Reshan Akash Algama.

Kuo was even-par through 12 holes before a late birdie burst took him to three-under 69.

For his part, Algama was five-under going to the 13th. However, a bogey there and at 16 halted his progress.

Spaniard Raul Gomez Montalva and Thai Teerwut Boonseeor were the two other boys to break par, both returning 71s.

Bidding to improve on his runner-up finish in last year’s APGC Junior Boys’ Championship, in-form Korean An Seong-hyeon struggled to come to terms with the wet conditions.

Winner of The R&A Junior Boys’ Open in Scotland in July, An had three birdies against five bogeys for a 74 that leaves him in a share of 12th place and with work to do.

In the team event which consists of 28 pairs made up of one male and one female player from each country, European Golf Association 1 claimed the day one lead.

With the aggregate gross score of both players counting, the all-French team of De Herrypon and Celeste Bobo-Lloret swept to the top of the leaderboard on three-under 141. Although she did not manage to make a birdie, Bobo-Lloret dropped just two shots in a solid 74.

Two shots in arrears in equal second place are Sri Lanka 1 (Algama and Kaya Senara Daluwatte) and Vietnam 2 (Nguyen Duc Son and Gia Han).

The two Korean teams are menacingly poised in fourth and joint fifth respectively, while the leading team from the host nation is the Philippines 1 duo of Shinichi Suzuki and Reese Ng in 11th place on 149.

LIVE SCORING OF THE APGC JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS IS AVAILABLE AT: https://bit.ly/APGCJuniorScores

Full Scores, First Round

Boys' Division

67 – Tom De Herrypon (France)
69 – Andreas Kuo Shi-hi (Chinese Taipei); Reshan Akash Algama (Sri Lanka)
71 – Raul Gomez Montalva (Spain); Teerwut Boonseeor (Thailand)
72 – Anshul Mishra (India); Nathan Tsen Jac (Malaysia); Nguyen Duc Son (Vietnam)
73 – Siwakorn Kriangkrai (Thailand); Son Je-yi (Korea); Rayan Ahmed (UAE)
74 – David Charles Serdenia (Philippines); An Seong-hyeon (Korea); Ranveer Mitroo (India)
75 – Troy Storm (Singapore); Shinichi Suzuki (Philippines); Cooper Moore (New Zealand); Andrew Yap (Malaysia)
76 – Michael Yuen Chi-yeing (Hong Kong China); Hsieh Yao-yu (Chinese Taipei)
77 – Stussy Shiroma (Guam)
78 – Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam); Geoffrey Tan (Philippines)
79 – Aaron Wee (Singapore); Mohammad Skaik (UAE); Muhammad Irtaza Hussain (Pakistan)
81 – Raymond Blas (Guam); Geoffrey Laklak (Lebanon)
82 – Anthony Fang Kai-xian (Hong Kong China)
85 – Jevahn Mikel Sathasivan (Sri Lanka)
93 – Anand Batbold (Mongolia)

Girls’ Division

68 – Arianna Lau (Hong Kong China)
71 – Jung Min-seo (Korea); Nguyen Viet Gia Han (Vietnam)
72 – Oh Soo-min (Korea)
74 – Denise Ng (Singapore); Zara Anand (India); Reese Ng (Philippines); Aasiya Saleem (UAE); Alethia Paige Gaccion (Philippines); Celeste Bobo-Lloret (France); Anna Le (Vietnam); Kaya Senara Daluwatte (Sri Lanka)
75 – Kanyarak Pongpitahnon (Thailand); Jeong Yoo-nae (New Zealand); Obi Chan (Hong Kong China); Aamiya Koul (Singapore)
76 – Grace Pauline Quintanilla (Philippines); Anna Ludvova (Czech); Parat Sukanant (Thailand)
77 – Chan Pei-wei (Chinese Taipei); Wang Yung-jen (Chinese Taipei); Ng Jing Xuen (Malaysia)
78 – Fatima Bushra (Pakistan)
79 – Victoria Richani (Lebanon); Anca Mateiu (UAE)
81 – Keerthana Rajeev Nair (India)
85 – Belle Ngo Yi (Malaysia)
92 – Yanjinkham Batdelger (Mongolia)

Team Standings

141 – European Golf Association 1 (Tom De Herrypon/Celeste Bobo-Lloret)
143 – Sri Lanka 1 (Reshan Akash Algama/Kaya Senara Daluwatte); Vietnam 2 (Nguyen Duc Son/Nguyen Viet Gia Han)
144 – Korea 2 (Son Je-yi/Jung Min-seo)
146 – Korea 1 (An Seong-hyeon/Oh Soo-min); Chinese Taipei 1 (Andreas Kuo Shi-hi/Chan Pei-wei)
147 – European Golf Association 2 (Raul Gomez Montalva/Anna Ludvova); Thailand 2 (Teerwut Boonseeor/Parat Sukanant)
148 – India 2 (Ranveer Mitroo/Zara Anand); Thailand 1 (Siwakorn Kriangkrai/Kanyarak Pongpitahnon)
149 – Philippines 1 (Shinichi Suzuki/Reese Ng)
150 – Singapore 1 (Troy Storm/Aamiya Koul); Hong Kong China 1 (Anthony Fang Kai-xian/Arianna Lau); New Zealand (Cooper Moore/Jeong Yoo-nae); Philippines 2 (David Charles Serdenia/Grace Pauline Quintanilla)
151 – Hong Kong China 2 (Michael Yuen Chi-yeing/Obi Chan)
152 – Malaysia 1 (Andrew Yap/Ng Jing Xuen); Vietnam 1 (Nguyen Tuan Anh/Anna Le); UAE 2 (Rayan Ahmed/Anca Mateiu); Philippines 3 (Geoffrey Tan/Alethia Paige Gaccion)
153 – India 1 (Anshul Mishra/Keerthana Rajeev Nair); UAE 1 (Mohammad Skaik/Aasiya Saleem); Singapore 2 (Aaron Wee/Denise Ng); Chinese Taipei 2 (Hsieh Yao-yu/Wang Yung-jen)
157 – Malaysia 2 (Nathan Tsen Jac/Belle Ngo Yi); Pakistan (Muhammad Irtaza Hussain/Fatima Bushra)
158 – Guam (Stussy Shiroma/Raymond Blas)
160 – Lebanon (Geoffrey Laklak/Victoria Richani)
185 – Mongolia (Anand Batbold/Yanjinkham Batdelger)